Elon Musk's Legal Blowup With Twitter Continues To Get Worse
Is Elon Musk going to buy Twitter? Yes or no? The Tesla billionaire and one of the world's richest men first announced that he was buying the social media platform for $44 billion. Then, a few weeks later — after apparently disparaging the company on (where else?) Twitter and complaining about bot content — Musk appeared to try to back out of the deal. Then, Twitter sued Musk to try to force him to go through with the purchase, according to CNN. In the suit, Twitter's lawyers wrote, "Now, less than three months later, Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests." Apparently Musk did not fully read the receipt on Twitter's return policy. In response, Musk tweeted, "Oh the irony lol."
So, what happens now? Will Musk be able to drop out of the deal without legal repercussions or putting a substantial dent in his wallet? Or will Twitter be able to sue him into submission? There's an update on the case, and it doesn't look great for ole Elon.
Elon Musk lost his first court battle with Twitter
After suing Elon Musk for backing out of the $44 billion deal, Twitter was pushing for an expedited trial date and, according to The New York Times, that's what they got. While Twitter asked for a September court hearing, Musk's lawyers requested the date be pushed to February. The Delaware judge, Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, set the court date for October, saying, "The longer the merger transaction remains in limbo, the larger a cloud of uncertainty is cast over the company," according to The Times. A Twitter representative said, "We are pleased that the court agreed to expedite this trial."
Perhaps surprisingly, as Musk is known to "tweet through it," the only statement he's made on the site in the wake of this legal loss was a one-word response to a supporter in his Twitter battle. "Exactly," Musk commented on a tweet that argued for his legal side. However, most legal experts, according to another New York Times article, think that legally Twitter is in a better position. Guess we'll all find out what happens to the site in October.